Savannah River Site Heritage Center

The historical importance of the site is best understood by recalling the war-time urgency that the Nation felt in 1949 when the Soviet Union exploded a nuclear weapon. The Nation was shocked, and President Harry Truman chose to respond to a perceived openly aggressive action.

The Savannah River Plant (now SRS) was the major U.S. step in that response. Truman asked the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Du Pont Company to design, build, and operate a facility to produce nuclear materials (mainly tritium and plutonium) for the “super” (hydrogen) bomb. The unprecedented construction project employed up to 38,582 workers in building more than 200 structures on the 300-square-mile Site.